(musical notes) - Funding for "Working Capital" is provided by The Friends of KTWU, and Go Topeka.

- Wow.

We blinked, and the holiday season is right around the corner.

So, before our gift list and anxiety get outta control, and it's gift cards for everyone again, let's think small.

A great way to knock many of those names off your list is by shopping local, and especially on small business Saturday.

From paintings and glassworks to beef jerky and fine chocolates, our local shops, restaurants, and artisans have poured their blood, sweat, and tears in what will become memories for a lifetime.

Supporting small batch businesses, coming up next on "Working Capital."

("Working Capital" theme music) Welcome back to "Working Capital."

One of the Topeka community's finest small batch businesses continues to be Hazel Hill Chocolate Traditions.

Nick and Terry Titus are award-winning chocolatiers, whose passion and craftsmanship will delight your taste buds.

It took a community to support Hazel Hill, and in turn they support Topeka and other communities and places you might not expect, one batch at a time.

Welcome back to the show, Nick.

Thanks Jay.

- As you know.

- Good to be here.

- You know, I may be in your shop a little too often, so you might know you're one of my favorites here in Topeka.

- Look, your secrets safe with us, we're not talking.

- Kind of, have a, some favorite things that I like.

But, anyways, you were one of our first guests on the show.

We just wanna check back in with you to begin with.

We're gonna talk small business and all, but for those that don't know your story, how did Hazel Hill come to be?

- Hazel Hill was started in 2005.

Look, chocolate making is my grandfather's trade.

When he immigrated to the United States from Greece, and after serving in World War I, that's the trade he learned.

And, he had a small shop in Clinton, Iowa, and Terry and I recreated something of what his shop is.

It's not quite as what his was in the forties and fifties, but small batch, handmade, friendly smiles are all part of the recipe, and folks might not know.

It's actually named after Harry's, Terry's, grandmother, Hazel Hill.

- So, she just had an amazing name to begin with.

- Yeah, it's a pretty cool name.

And, it makes that family connection, right?

- Yeah, it ties in both your families together, and, kind of, now you're having, maybe a generational chocolatier shop going forward.

- We do, yep.

- That's amazing.

So, growing up, do you remember your grandfather's?

- Oh yeah.

- Candy shop?

- Oh yeah.

- So, is that kind of where you fell in love with it at that point?

Just like you say, seeing the smiles, it's kind of an experience.

- It is.

And look, I think it's something in short supply today.

There's, you can go to Amazon, or to a big box, and like we were talking earlier, it's not much of an experience, and that human touch, and that handmade product, and the smile, and getting to meet the craftsmen and artisans that make it, you know, that's worth something these days.

And, I think that's gonna be become even more valuable.

- I mean, nothing against the chocolates and the candies in the store.

You know what you're getting.

They're good.

- You bet!

- But, when you get these small batch artisanal shops, I mean, the ingredients you're using, you're sourcing things from different places, you're usually probably using better butter, and cream, and stuff, just because you need to control that as opposed to buying hundreds of thousands of gallons of milk at a time.

So, tell me a little bit about where you source all your ingredients from.

- Well, so a lot of them are not that remarkable Jay, but I mean, sugar is is not that different.

But, we are sourcing cacao and fine cocoa from all over the globe, Central America, South America, Asia, and Africa.

And, sometimes we get to visit those places, and that's always exciting to meet the producers, and kind of understand better what their situation is, and how we make those partnerships work.

- So, how do you first get introduced?

I mean, how do you find these places in South America?

- So, there's, look, we're not large enough to really go it on our own.

There are a community of artisanal chocolate makers.

And, as cooperatives we go in and find interesting origins and locations, and farmers that are doing things at a high quality.

And, then we cooperate on creating sourcing arrangements and dealing with the ethics, and the economics that go into that.

So, it's not something you do in an afternoon, and it requires constant attention.

- But, you have visited a few of these communities, so as you've given to community, the community's given back to you.

- Yeah.

- This is one of those places where, kind of, you're able to give, I think, more back to the farmers this way, through your cooperatives, than as than opposed to just buying from a big consortium.

- Yeah, so at the premium cacao level, we're paying five to 12 times the commodity price for cocoa.

And, a lot of that money is getting into the hands of farmers.

Now, it requires a higher quality products to be produced.

And, in each of those countries, not only do we have folks who help us with distribution, but they're going back and helping the farmers produce those higher quality products.

- Just tell me a little bit about some of these small towns, or are they villages?

I mean, tell me a little bit about the couple that you've seen.

- So, let's talk about a couple in Guatemala.

- Okay.

- One of the ones that is our favorite, grows the cacao in our Lechua Bar, that's near Laguna Lechua in the northern northwest part of Guatemala.

Those are all Mayan farmers.

- [Jay] Wow.

- So they, it is an indigenous community in the area of Chisec, so Guatemala, but it's two hours by four wheel drive to get to this area.

And, they are living in an extended family situation and farming is what they do.

- And, they've probably farmed this crop.

- For thousands of years.

- Thousands of years!

- Thousands of years.

- Of course, they're not using, they're not making fine chocolates most of the time there though?

It's more of a beverage.

- No, there's no facilities to turn it into what we would call a food.

Cacao or chocolate to them is a drink.

And, it's harvested, it's roasted over an open fire, and then it's hand ground.

- And, how is it?

- It is better than you think.

So much of what we get in industrial processed chocolate has been treated with alkaline and chemicals to manipulate the flavor.

And, that brings kind of that acrid bitter that many of us associate with strong chocolate.

The amount of fruit notes and other things that are in there when you don't manipulate the flavor are really delightful.

- When we come back after this little break we're coming up on, I wanna talk more about this, 'cause the way you talk about this, a lot of people don't realize how much, like, wine and other foods this can be with the bouquets, the different flavors, the tones.

- [Nick] You bet.

- So, it's pretty amazing.

So, it's time for a short break.

Stick around, we'll be right back.

- [Spokesperson] This is KTWU, local public television.

(rhythmic electronic music) - Welcome back.

Okay, Nick, we were getting ready to get into all these ingredients, the floral notes, everything.

But, really I first wanna touch on again, these farmers.

So, these Mayan farmers, I think I read someplace where some of the farms are on the side of mountains, so it's not where we're thinking a lot of flat land, or some rocky land.

It's really labor intensive.

It's not like they can get machines in there.

So tell us a little bit about that.

- No, it's all done by, (clears throat) excuse me.

It's all done by hand.

And yeah, some of the areas are, yeah, like this, mountainous areas.

And, to us, who are used to, like, a farm is rows, and now you're gonna see what looks like the jungle.

And, then all of a sudden there's gonna be cacao trees, and avocado, spices, bananas, all inter-cropped and growing together.

And, some of that is things that they eat.

So, they're doing subsistence farming, and things like cacao and our cash crops, is how that works.

- A few of these little villages, is cacao their biggest part of their economy?

- It's an important part because it's the export and the cash crop that brings money back into the community.

So, things that they sell local there, there's not a ton of cash moving around, and that only brings so much.

But, things that they can export, especially at a premium level, bring much needed cash into those communities that really don't have a lot.

- So, they love drinking it?

- Yep.

- I know they don't eat it a lot, but you have taken your products back to them to try, correct.

- We did.

- What did they say?

Did they think it was a waste?

"You should be drinking it."

- No.

- Or, were they just blown away with what else you can do?

- No, it's one of the exciting things, to go to a family farm and share with the farmer, "Look, here's what we did with what you grew."

And, they're excited, and they're mostly excited that we care.

It's intense hard work in a jungle environment, and the fact that somebody cared to come down there and share with them what they're doing means a lot.

- I know you can't visit everyone you're connected with, but the ones you have, is it like a family now?

- Oh yeah.

- So, you check in on them almost?

- Well, a little bit.

Yeah, with people in those countries, again, where these farms are at are are often so remote.

There is no electronics, or.

- So you're really stepping back into another time?

- Yeah.

So, no, you need to be thinking in a place where there aren't really roads.

and these are really just extended families doing this farming.

And, there's no cell phones, there's no TV.

This is a very primitive existence that these folks live.

- It's amazing, 'cause then you're giving back to these communities.

Is it still full of smiles?

I mean, the families there?

- Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

- They don't know what they're missing.

- They don't.

- [Jay] They don't need the rat race.

- And, it's nice because a lot of 'em don't trust white people for some important reasons.

- [Jay] Good reasons.

- So, to be able to go there and build a bond with somebody who might not otherwise be welcoming, it means a lot.

- That's amazing.

And, what you get out of it is these amazing products.

- Yep.

- And so, let's talk a little bit about, 'cause we have a few flavors here.

- I brought a few, yep.

- But, you know, we're talking about the flavors, and the bouquets of it, and that.

Tell me, what really goes into making these chocolate bars.

You're not just going back, crushing up cacao, and putting some some butter and cream with it, and you're done.

- So, that bar is just cacao and sugar.

It's about a week's worth of hand work to turn a cocoa bean or seed into a bar of premium chocolate.

So, it is labor intensive to do that, but it's a labor of love.

And, Jay, the one you're holding, when we were with the Maya people, they shared with us some spices and cacao that they used in drinks.

We're bringing those together into some chocolate bars.

And, all of these ingredients in that bar are actually sourced from these small farms in Guatemala.

So, every ingredient there except the sugar was grown by a Maya farmer.

- So, and some people probably wouldn't.

People have seen, you know, some chilies in chocolates before.

But, cardamon, I mean this just sounds, this sounds amazing.

Cardamon with your red chilies.

- [Nick] Yep.

- And, cardamon to me, whenever I hear cardamon, of course, I probably stupidly think England, but of course that's probably colonialism, and their.

- [Nick] It is.

- Whole bringing it back there.

But, so cardamon is a South American, Central American spice.

- It's inter-cropped with the cacao.

So, cacao, big tree.

- [Jay] It's a regional flavor then?

- Right, and then cardamom is growing underneath that tree.

It's kind of a more like a grass type plant that would be growing there.

- And, I guess we didn't show one, but I'll put a picture up here.

- Okay.

- These cacao pods, beans were taught.

- Yep.

- I mean, they're about almost a football size, right?

- Yeah, like a Nerf football.

- So they're not, and then that breaks open, that's where you really get the.

- And, then there's fruit inside.

- The fruit and the seeds?

- And the seeds, yep.

And, the fruit ferments.

And, that slow cooks that seed.

And then, that seed is what we buy and turn into chocolate.

So, it's a fruit seed, it's not actually a bean.

- So, you buy it after it's been out, dried, and you're buying that end product.

You're not buying the whole pods.

- Nope.

- And then, doing that processing here.

- Because it's a fresh fruit, right?

It's gonna decay in a matter of days.

- [Jay] Gotcha.

- So no, that fruit.

- [Jay] It would make the trip.

- Yeah.

That fruit goes into boxes or under tarps, and it ferments, and it cooks the seed in that fermenting fruit juice, and then we buy the seed and roast and refine 'em into chocolate.

- On an average from an idea for a new flavor.

How long from starting, doing your tasting samples to, "I have a brand new bar we're gonna stick it on the shelf."

- So, it varies from a couple of months.

This one here from northern Peru, we spent almost nine months and 125 pounds of cacao coming up with the recipe for that one.

- So, tell, okay, tell us a little about this one then.

- So, Puro Blanco is from the Puro region in Northern Peru.

It is a distinct genetic plant.

So, it's a high desert, it's not a jungle.

And, this fruit variety of cacao will only grow there, and it's a little harder to get.

And, it has a significant amount of what's called creo, or native cacao, that is a white cacao bean in it.

- [Jay] Okay.

- So, look, we took a long time to get it, and we put a lot of effort into coming up with something we think brings forward the flavor of that origin in Northern Peru.

- That's amazing.

Tell you what, we have another break.

- [Nick] Let's do it.

- It's time for another break.

So, grab a snack and we'll be right back.

(gentle orchestral music) All right.

We're talking about all the inputs, kind of get into some costs.

Now, something a few people might like to try is one of your other bars.

And, I think it might have one of your costly or inputs.

So, it might not be just straight from farm, but tell us a little bit about your whiskey and spice bar.

- So, the whiskey and spice is the most awarded bar we have made.

It's got three international level awards on it.

It's cacao from Tanzania in East Africa.

To that, we add some three year old reserve bourbon from our pals in Lenexa at Union Horse.

And then, there's cinnamon from Vietnam in there, and a little bit of vanilla from Madagascar.

- And, if people haven't had Vietnamese cinnamon, I love cinnamon on everything, that stuff.

It's just, it's the next, it's just the next level.

- It's very different.

It's not that hot fiery stuff.

- It's deep.

- It's very earthy and warm.

- It's got some depth to it.

So, this is an amazing bar.

So, and you have won many awards.

- So, we are up to 10 now, international level awards.

- Wow.

- And, some of those include, our sea salt caramel candy was the number one confection in the largest competition in the world in 2021.

- Sea salt.

Now, I mean, is that just, will that go away?

Is that such a trend?

'Cause all of a sudden it's everything.

- No, no, no.

- Sea salt, is that just because it brings out the depth in the chocolate.

- Anything savory and crunchy with chocolate is a winner.

Right, we could take a piece of balsa wood, and put a little salt on it, and some chocolate.

- And and you're eating it?

- Yeah.

- That's amazing.

That's amazing.

Okay, so being able to create all these, we know business is good.

The Topeka community has supported you.

- Oh my gosh.

- Right?

And, you were here seven years ago and I think at that point chocolate was, or candy confections was 12 or $13 billion.

I think you were saying how the small premium shops are about 8% of that.

So, you're still dealing with $3.5-$3 billion.

And now, COVID hits.

How has that market changed?

I mean, 'cause the smaller shops to me seems like that might be something people walk away from during those times.

- You know, and some of them didn't make it.

And, it's not an easy thing to get through.

We were blessed by a community that supported us, and an amazing shift to online sales.

So, we do a significant amount of volume that's not here in the Topeka community.

We're shipping that in the US, and sometimes around the world.

- How easy was that shift?

Was it, were you able to be gradual?

Was it like, some people were coming online then all of a sudden, two weeks later, it's like, "we need to figure this out because we're swapped."

- There you go.

It was controlled panic of "How do we get this figured out?

And, how are we able to produce that kind of volume?

- How'd you do it?

How'd you work out that stress?

- We just worked.

- [Jay] Ate chocolate?

- Well, we worked our ways through it.

and you might've noticed, during COVID the shop hours shrunk.

Look, we contracted where we needed to so we could manage our capacity.

- So, you weren't necessarily closed, you just needed that time closed to ship orders, - To manufacture products, ship orders, those things.

So, we balance that, and obviously as COVID restrictions loosened up and people came back to work, you know, we end up rebalancing that as we go.

So, there is never a moment when it's all right and it's all in balance.

You're always trying to find that sweet spot and to tune those processes.

- And, a big part of this, coming to the forefront is it's an experience when you walk in there.

You're not just thinking of the next chocolate bar.

You're thinking of when people come in, the sights, the sounds, the touches.

- The smells.

(laughs) - The smells.

Of course the smells.

Do you pipe that outside?

Do you have a little fan of site?

- No, we don't pipe it outside, no, but yeah, you can kind of get there when you look in that big window and see somebody cooking.

- Tell me your thoughts behind that.

You know, a lot of people when they're starting up a shop, especially a one of, or a mom and pop shop, that's not one of their thoughts.

You're just thinking about, "Let's get product out.

Here it is."

- Yeah, and look, you started the discussion there.

It's all about the experience.

And, you want from the minute that person engages with your business, whether it's in the shop or on the online, to have thought through what's that experience, what are they gonna see, what are they gonna hear?

Who's gonna talk to 'em?

Look, we put something good in their mouth as often as we can, and it's that human touch, and that experience with a business, and the owner, and the people there that really adds some value.

I think that is becoming more and more rare.

So, no, my advice, if you're starting that kind of premium business, you're in the experience business, you're offering great products, but you're also running a theater, right?

Because, it's a show.

- Yes.

Yes it is, yeah.

And, you also wanna cultivate your employees.

- Correct.

- Right?

And, with their growth, 'cause when you go in there now, if I don't see you, it doesn't matter how old they look to me, 'cause I might be a little older, they all look really young to me in there.

But, you know, they'll tell you about each chocolate bar and you do have samples there.

- We do.

- So, you have some of the latest bars so you can test out whether you like a dark chocolate or dry.

- A lot of it's employees been with us for 16 years.

- That says something.

- Yeah.

So, you want to treat your people right.

You want to give them a reason to be there.

and to become those experts that you're talking about.

- It's community building community.

- [Nick] Exactly.

- That's fantastic, Nick.

Stick around.

We'll be right back.

(upbeat piano) Welcome back to "Working Capital."

We're talking about small batch businesses.

So, Nick, community has helped you.

And, community is the only way to help all these other small businesses.

You know, we're coming up on small business Saturday, I think on average 20 to 40% of small businesses across the board, I think in the five weeks, do 20 to 40% of their business in the five weeks leading up to Christmas.

- Yeah.

- So, it's a huge season.

How important is it to us to get out and support these local business like yours, the restaurants?

It could be someone's little secondhand clothing shop.

How important is that for Topeka as a whole?

- They don't make it without it.

And, Jay, when those dollars leave our community, they're not coming back.

And, that's why we're able to survive, is it's the people coming in the storefront, but it's also the other businesses buying from us and giving those gifts as clients that drives a lot of our volume.

So, it's both the individual consumers, but it's also the business community taking care of each other.

And, in my opinion in Topeka, we do a great job of that.

- I know you kind of opened downtown when the revitalization was starting.

You also moved downtown at some point.

Did you move downtown at the same time?

- So, 2015 was when we moved downtown.

- [Jay] Okay, so you had a little bit of time.

- We did.

- In between opening.

- After our kids were grown, we decided that, hey, we wanted to have a loft and live right there, and live that kinda lifestyle.

- So, seeing it firsthand, especially, kind of, with the fall of malls, and some of the fall of big box stores, have you seen a real embracing of more local shops and and that kind of push in the last decade?

- Oh yeah.

And, especially in our downtown, having places like the Pennant and the Iron Rail, and the other restaurants and hotels in that great plaza.

People are there all the time now.

It used to be a ghost town once the state workers went home at the end of the day.

It's not.

You come down and it's busy, it's bustling, and people are there having a great time.

- That's fantastic.

Where do we need to go from here?

I mean, the nice thing is, I guess, there are programs in place for new, small business owners, whether through Go Topeka, or some other facilities where we have some hoppers to help start businesses.

Where do you see the future of Topeka going with that?

With the help, and the, oh, just the push for small businesses, 'cause it seems like we have a really good entrepreneurial network here.

- We have a great entrepreneurial network, and the greater Topeka partnership support, the university supporting, and there are other groups.

You know, one of the things I'm seeing that really excites me, is we're starting to see more minority folks coming in to small business, and understanding that that's an option for 'em.

And, I love seeing that and supporting that, 'cause that lifts a whole family, right?

- Yes.

- When somebody has a business that goes, that lifts everybody.

and kind of like mine, it can end up being something that changes generations.

- And you, those other families then who are working for you.

I mean, it does trickle down.

- Yep!

- That to me, that's, this is trickle down economics, not the, what the big politicians talk about.

This is where it really works.

- Yeah, and look what happens with the Federal Reserve and all that, that doesn't affect you nearly as much as the dollars that you're putting into your neighbor's business, or the evening that you're spending out in our town.

Or the time you find that place you haven't been to before, and you give it a try.

We need to get back to getting outside, and visiting our neighbors, and enjoying the community here.

And, Topeka has some of the finest foods in the world.

- They do.

- We've won some awards.

Look, the finest coffee in the world last year was PTs.

Right?

- Most people here wouldn't even know that, yeah.

- Beer was from the Blind Tiger, okay?

Adam at the White Linen is winning James Beard finalist award.

These are recognitions that say these places are some of the best in the world, and they're right here and they're our neighbors.

- And, perfect things for the holidays.

I mean.

- [Nick] You bet.

- You can probably buy growlers, you can probably buy gifts, if you're gonna get gift cards, try to get a gift card for someplace local.

- [Nick] Exactly.

- Yeah.

The coffee makers, most Topeka wouldn't know how world class this really is.

You know, we do take it for granted.

- We are very fortunate, and you know, we're not that big of a community, but we have some of the best in the world and we need to love and support those folks.

Those dollars matter.

- So, coming up, Small Business Saturday, do we have anything crazy cool down there, other than just all these delicious treats?

- Look, we do some things for fall that we don't have all the time.

We do a couple southern treats.

There's gonna be pralines and divinity for those of you who know about the south.

And, then there there's gonna be a couple of things with pumpkin spice.

But, you're also gonna find an India spice truffle, that is a fall item.

So, you wanna come down and check out all those things and give them a taste.

- That is right.

- Little bit of adventure here in Topeka.

- It is, it really, it is.

Downtown, all around town, actually, just support your local businesses.

They'll support you back.

That's all the time we have.

I'd like to thank Nick Xidis from Hazel Hill Chocolate Traditions for joining us again today.

As always, if you know of any interesting businesses or business topics, we want to hear from you.

So, give us a call, drop us an email, or send us a letter.

Tune the next time, and thanks for watching "Working Capital."

(upbeat electronic music) - [Spokesperson] Funding for "Working Capital" is provided by the Friends of KTWU and Go Topeka.